A FRAUDSTER obtained a job with Exeter University and then used his Pounds 1.5 million spending budget to sell Pounds 23,000 of office equipment to secretly fund his heroin habit.
Carl Mainard, 32, of Park Street, Crediton, was jailed for two years at Exeter Crown Court after admitting ten offences of fraud by false representation.
He admitted these offences breached a suspended prison sentence that he was given for stealing money from another former employer.
The court was not told if Exeter University was aware of his criminal record when it employed him as an administration assistant for campus services.
Prosecutor Alexander Allsop said Mainard was employed by the university in late 2007 and his job included using university funds to buy computers, phones and stationery, with a potential spending budget of Pounds 1.5 million.
His line manager became suspicious on April 23 this year, when she noticed deliveries Plus size wedding dresses had been made to Mainard's home.
Her further enquiries revealed he appeared to have ordered the items for himself using university funds, between February 10 and April 8 this year.
He had bought items including 11 Apple Mac computer laptops, a Samsung television, telephones and drills worth Pounds 23,657.
Mr Allsop said the defendant already has a previous conviction for theft from an employee, between 2006 and April 2007, for which he had been given a suspended Plus size wedding dresses prison sentence. This theft happened when he was employed in Slough Community Leisure and stole various amounts of cash from Pounds 350 to Pounds 864.
Defence counsel Gareth Evans said the defendant had managed to kick a heroin habit and had completed the part of the suspended sentence that required him to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work in the community.
Mr Evans said that Mainard then succumbed to his heroin habit again this year because of various problems including financial difficulties.
He said: "The defendant was unable to fund his habit by any honest means so embarked on a relatively short period of dishonesty.
He was selling items, bought from university money, for about 50 per cent of their value. It was of little benefit to him as all he was doing was spending it on drugs. There was no high living.
"When arrested, he couldn't have been more open and frank."
Recorder John Williams said he was giving him credit for his guilty plea but the crime had involved a substantial breach of trust.
Daniel Williams, a spokesman for the university, has said that he cannot comment on individual cases.
He said: "Under the law, the university is only eligible for Criminal Records Bureau checks for staff carrying out job roles which are 'exempt' under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975.
"The person involved in this case was not working in an 'exempt' role, and therefore we are only entitled to ask for a personal Plus size wedding dresses declaration regarding criminal records.
"However, it is not our standard policy to ask for personal declarations of this kind because they cannot be formally verified. Our policies have been reviewed in light of the recent case, but it has
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